It's officially Winter in North America, with snow and cold temperatures the norm, particularly in the Northeast! Fellow Duelund-WRSE Project adventurer, Frank, just sent me a couple of chilly looking photos.
The first is the view from Frank's listening room (below) ...
... and the second is looking out from his loft over the fishing shacks on the frozen water (below). Brrr!
It is beautiful with all of that snow, but it sure seems like a great day to stay in and listen to those Duelund hot-rodded Westminster Royal SEs, with a nice fire burning in the fireplace, and with a nice warm hot toddy in hand!
Cheers Frank!
Speaking of the Duelund-Westminster Project, I continue to be more and more amazed at the effect adding in two silver Duelund CAST 6.8uF PIO capacitors (below) into the high-frequency circuit of the crossover had on the performance of my system.
As the silver Duelund CAST capacitors continue to break in and get some more time on them they just seem to unfold wonder upon musical wonder. There is such a relaxed clarity & transparency, timbral naturalness, tonal purity, and melodic sophistication that its hard for me to convey how really good my system is sounding.
I'll find myself sitting here like a slack-jawed booby I'm so amazed by what I'm hearing. That's me in the photo below grinning like an idiot because I'm so thrilled with what I'm hearing from the Silver Duelunds!
One of the things that impresses me the most is what a remarkable Stephaen-esque difference the Silver Duelunds had on low level listening. Stephaen, my Hi-Fi buddy that writes for 6Moons, has refined and sophisticated aural tastes, particularly when it comes to low level listening, which is his favorite way to listen to music. The Silver Duelunds let all the music through in completely engrossing fashion even at low listening levels, which is something that is not normally a particular strength of the Westminsters. I think Stephaen would really like their performance at lower volumes, the artful and engaging way they present the music, thus the Stephaen-esque compliment! 🙂
After seeing my posts with Ron's beautiful Crown gear, Larry sent me some photos of his Crown tape deck collection, and they are a wow! Look at those Crown decks - they are gorgeous!
Larry currently has 4 Crown tape machines, and all of them at the moment are 4-tracks: A Crown SS-824, two SX-724's and a CX-824.
Larry told me, "I just sold my CX-822 and hopefully will be getting another replacement 2-track soon."
Larry went on to tell me, "All four are immaculate. Chuck Ziska in Florida tore them down & rebuilt them all. He installed new Nortronics heads, recapped everything, replaced critical audio transistor circuitry with new ultra low noise silicone planer transistors, new motor bearings, new belts & pinch rollers, improved/upgraded the braking torque circuitry of all the machines, and finally recal'ed the electronics for Ampex 456 & obtained the lowest distortion figures with virtually perfect phasing on the scope."
"He set the record/play levels @ 200 nwbr/m, to read 0 VU. (My pref.). The resulting CX, SX & SS electronics I.M. distortion readings were 0.07% for the vintage SS and approx. 0.04% for the later decks with THD readings approx. the same. (0 VU ref.). Frequency response tests were +- 1.5db 30-21K @ 15ips & to 18K @ 7.5ips. Not bad for vintage 4-track machines!"
"The two side roll around stands were bought outright, but the center vertical rolling stand, I built out of heavy duty 1.5" square stock tubing reinforced & welded together. It weight 60lbs alone. It doesn't bend or flex in any way. Behind the decks are boxed up 3000+ LP's and I have about 450+ open reel tapes."
"I unfortunately had to sell most of my support equipment: [2-Empire turntables, Soundcraftsmen preamps equalizers & power amps. Belle-Klipsch horn speakers, Rectilinear III highboy & Lowboy speakers AND most regrettably, my Tascam 42B & BR-20 reel to reel decks. (The BR-20 I bought new, but never used it!)]. That's it for now..."
Wow! What a knock-out message and photos, Larry! Thank you so much for taking time to send the photos of your Crown collection and to take the time to tell us about them! Simply fantastic!
Well friends, it's Sunday evening here at Jeff's Place, and it's about time for me to get a little dinner going, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy a little jazz while playing chef!
From my home to yours, may the music bring joy into your life!
